The Puzzle Is Real

Divine Appointment

• Matt & Melissa Pisani • Season 1 • Episode 49

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Have you ever had a divine appointment? Listen to this latest "Faith" episode about Matt & Melissa's Sunday FUN Day afternoon at a local playground. 


@puzzleisreal
@missjean21
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www.mattandmelissapisani.com

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Puzzle is Real podcast where we will be discussing Faith, family, and Relationships hosted by Matt and Melissa Pisani. This is The Puzzle is Real podcast when you know, you know.

Speaker 2:

All right . Happy New Year.

Speaker 3:

Happy New Year 2024. How did that happen?

Speaker 2:

What a crazy blur And just like a snap of a finger and here we are,

Speaker 3:

Man. It's wild. Makes you realize you have to really enjoy every day . 'cause it goes so quick.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. I'm thinking back of when we first started the podcast. It was during the pandemic Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> in 2020. Yep . And now here we are almost four years later. Yep . Still releasing these episodes and it is a new year. We haven't had an episode in a while. So for our listeners you might be saying, where have you guys been? And if you track us and troll us and trail us on social media, you see that we've been doing a lot of different things. So we thought it'd be fun to open up the new year with a really important topic and a really important conversation about divine appointments.

Speaker 3:

Yes. So this is a Faith podcast episode and we will take you back to, this was what, a few months ago? I wanna say. It was like October. I

Speaker 2:

Wanna say it was October. Yeah . Maybe. Um, middle of October.

Speaker 3:

Middle of October. Um, I think right before Trick or Treating Time . So we had been pretty busy with just life and homeschooling and you know, Matt's job and all sorts of things. And we're like, you know what, let's, today let's just have a family day. You know, let's just dedicate this day to just doing whatever we wanna do. And we're like, you know what , let's take the kids to the beach. Yes. And maybe for some ice cream or something. So we were leaving, got in the car and we normally will pray. Mercy will actually normally pray for our drive. And we were pulling out, so Mercy prayed for our drive in our day and then I prayed for a divine appointment and just say, Lord, just let us be used today. We're in your hands. So drove out, went about our day and we took the kids to the beach and it was really pretty, really nice day. Except we weren't prepared <laugh> because there was so many sandbars and we didn't bring bathing suits. We're like, oh , we'll just walk on the beach. You know, pick up some shells. But you know how that goes with kids. They wanna get wet and splash and all those things. So we didn't stay for too long 'cause we didn't want them to get soaked. But we did have some fun there. So then we're like, okay, let's take 'em to one of our favorite playgrounds. So we went to one of our favorite playgrounds, which is at another local beach. And you wanna pick it up from there?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. I , I just want to , um, rewind too and just remind people that may not be aware of what a divine appointment is and Oh yes . And how that works. 'cause Sorry, I always forget that, you know, everyone has a different way of processing and explaining things. So divine appointment to us is that when we go out as a family, God, that you would intervene and that you would do something that is tied to your will and basically saying like, Hey, like we're gonna meet someone today and we're gonna bless them, or we're gonna speak life into them or pray with them. But you're gonna do something really cool. You're gonna create the conversations. You're gonna create a divine appointment appointed time where God intervenes and prompts us to take a step forward of faith to minister to someone else. And, and sometimes it's people ministering to us. So divine appointments go both ways. Sometimes you're meeting a fellow believer who's there to speak something into you. Sometimes you're meeting a nonbeliever and you're able to share life with them and and love on them. So this was really cool because in this case, this divine appointment was being aligned for us before we even knew of the destination where we were appointed to go to. We had went to, yeah , the beach and we kind of lost track of time. We were just Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> mo , you know , along the beach and letting the kids jump in these sandbar puddles and <laugh> we're like, yeah, this is fun. And then we're like, wow, we gotta eat lunch. So we went and got a quick brunch and we were over in one of our favorite places, Sullivan's Island and Isle of Palms here in good old sunny Charleston, South Carolina. So we were hopping around to the two different beach neighborhoods for those of you that know that area. Awesome Times. Really cute. And we went to this little playground that we like to go to in Sullivan's Island after a brunch to let the kids burn off some calories and, and have more fun. 'cause that's what it's about. On a Sunday fun day, you gotta have fun. And the kids love going to this playground. But the cool thing was that they were not only having fun and making friends, but mommy made a friend.

Speaker 3:

Yeah . So <laugh> . So we were kind of , you know, Matt was going after one of the kids and I think I was with the other. And then we had, I had , I think Magnolia strapped to me, but I saw this family and I could kind of tell that they weren't from here and they were all dressed really nice. Like they had just gotten , you know, done with church or something. And the family was trying to get a picture together and the husband was taking a picture of his wife and I think they had four kids. Mm . And so I was like, oh. I was like, did you want me to take a picture for you ? So he's like, oh, that'd be great. That'd be great. And then he had an accent I could tell. So I took a picture for them and then I just started chatting with the wife and we found out that they were from Nebraska and they ended up being , um, Catholic missionaries actually from Nebraska. And they were here on a road trip and kind of some sort of assignment. 'cause they had to go to a different parish to, I guess, I don't know.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. I think they were gonna speak and share about their mission and Yeah. And kind of just give people some updates. And , um, during that conversation I was just feeling really checked out. Have you ever felt like that? Where you're just like, I don't want to engage with anyone, I just want to kind of be anonymous and that comes in waves for me? It's very rare. Usually I'm wanting to engage Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> and I'm the close talker. I'm the awkward guy that's gonna, you know, speak my hot breath right into your face <laugh> and tell you about Jesus.

Speaker 3:

Yeah,

Speaker 2:

That's true . In my own unique ways. Um, and I attract the weird stuff sometimes. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . But , um, that's a inside joke for people that really know me. But yeah, in that I did not wanna engage with anyone. And I saw this man who was with his kids and I was just kinda like, ah , I'll just let him play with, you know, his kids I'll, I'll focus on ours, make sure no one falls off of these pieces of equipment and gets hurt. And then, you know, I started drifting to this other side of the playground and I noticed that Mercy made friends at one of the other kids. And now I had turned my back to look at our kids. And that's when I heard a screaming yell of pain.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Like one of those yells where you're like, Ooh , that doesn't sound like just a

Speaker 3:

Yes.

Speaker 2:

An ouch but someone's in extreme pain.

Speaker 3:

Yeah . So the husband had gotten on one of those twisty, kind of roundabout, I guess little contraptions at a playground. And I don't know what happened 'cause I didn't actually see it happen, but he must have slipped or tripped or something. And his leg got caught. And so you heard this agonizing screen and you know, we were, you know , I don't know , several hundred feet away. And I , I was like, oh no, that doesn't sound very good. So I said to Matt, I'm like, maybe we should go over there and like pray for him. Like, I don't know what to do. And Matt, like he said, was just very resistant, which is not like him. So we walked over 'cause I could tell he was just in so much pain. And then his wife walked over and she's looking for ice packs and trying to get him, you know , something to relieve the swelling and the pain. 'cause instantly it was swollen. It was like his whole ankle just blew up. So I went over there and I was just kind of giving them practical advice at first, just by saying like, Hey, if you needed to get an X-ray or something, if you think it's broken , um, you know, you can go to this place and blah, blah blah. And we were just like, you know, if there's anything else we could do, please let us know. And then the husband goes, well, we could pray, right?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Yeah. And he was sitting down on the, I guess like, bottom of this playground set and we could see the inflammation in his foot. And, you know, it was a lot of just, I guess touch and go with what we should say to these people. 'cause you feel bad, but at the same time, have you ever felt like you're battling with your flesh where you don't want to do something, but you know you need to do it. And sometimes it's in the, in the area of forgiving someone or , um, saying you're sorry. And sometimes it's in the area of, well, I really want to go do something for me and not for someone else. And I think that at that point I was torn because I had a mindset of it's time to go. We gotta get outta here. We've been here too long, let's get the kids and, and leave. But at the same time here , this man injures himself a fellow brother in the Lord. And I had felt God prompt on my heart that you should pray for this man. And I was like, oh man, I really, <laugh> am I really called to pray for this guy right now. And, and I had seen, and we have seen signs and wonders before. We've seen miracles and , and healings and whatnot. And we've prayed with probably thousands of people and hundreds at least I I , I can't count, you know, but we, we've never shied away from that. But, you know, having a weak moment, I was getting distracted from the opportunity of this divine appointment. So praise God. I , I fought through it and I started to pray for this man. And I specifically started praying for his healing. And we started to cry out to the Lord in the middle of this playground. While other families were around, other parents were probably observing, I don't know, my eyes were closed. Um, but we were in an active playground praying for this man's healing. And God just took over within the moment of me fighting my flesh, being resistant, wanting to go about my day, wanting to get to the next part of our day. I stopped just, I guess realized that we were in the divine appointment and Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> and God just started speaking through me. And, and everything after that was just an amazing miracle.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. So Matt had his eyes closed, and so I just kept my eyes open, just kind of, you know, making sure our kids were safe. And, you know, I knew what was going on around him . Where's

Speaker 2:

Malaka at?

Speaker 3:

Yeah. So Mercy, where's mercy? I'm also watching this man's ankle, right? As Matt's praying, and I physically saw it with my own eyes that it just started to decrease. Mm . The swelling just started going down. And at first I'm like blinking my eyes, like, is this really happening or am I just seeing this? So, you know, I'm not saying anything, I'm just thinking this in my head. And then Matt said, amen. And we all agreed and said Amen. And literally, instantly the man just started jumping up and down. Like, I'm telling you before this, he could not walk. He was in agonizing pain. So right after we finished the prayer, he jumped up and down and is like, I'm healed. I'm healed. Thank you Jesus. And we were just like, what? So we're just like, man, like what? Like what would've happened if we didn't pray for him? Yeah . You know what I mean? Like, and who knows who was watching. Like, we don't even know who was watching in that moment to be like, what did we just see?

Speaker 2:

Right? Yeah. What just happened And, and praise God that we, we seek him on that day to give us a divine appointment. He answers our prayer

Speaker 3:

Specifically, we ask for

Speaker 2:

It <laugh> . And even in my own fleshly resistance, he still uses us. Right? He uses me as, as a bridge to stand in the gap with a man that had the faith and belief that we had, that he could be healed. We knew he could be healed. Right. Once we got past the point of committing to praying for him, we have seen healings before. We've been blessed to see the power of the Holy Spirit move through the church. And , and through his, his people, right? Through God's children, he, he activates and moves and here we are watching this man walk into a miracle and we're just celebrating. And I remember we just, we blessed them. We , um, we just celebrated that moment and we, we left that playground being just wowed at how God can just do things. How he can take an ordinary family Sunday fun day , afternoon and turn it into a divine appointment. And that's our encouragement for you today, is that you would pray, seek God first and say, God, provide that divine appointment for me today. Whatever it is. And it may not be a miracle that you're gonna see, but it may be a conversation with a fellow worker, a fellow employee with your boss in school, a fellow student. It could be anything. It could be a stranger, it could be a missionary who ends up in the middle of South Carolina Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> all the way from Nebraska.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. It's just so cool to know that God is just alive and active and still doing amazing things. And all we have to do is say yes. And I think we've done so many episodes of this 'cause we've seen this in our lives over and over and over again, where when we are open, God just does the rest. We just have to show up and say, God, what do you want us to do today? So I just think it's really cool that we can just ask for things and seek and knock and he's gonna be right there. So there's just so many confirmations in our lives and just seeing that miracle and that man and his wife and their beautiful children, just that they were able to walk and he was able to walk and to just testify. So cool to maybe he testified to the parish that day. Yeah . And

Speaker 2:

Share that might have been his

Speaker 3:

Testimony, you know? So it's just, it's so cool to know what God is just doing in our lives. And we just wanna end with , um, a verse here. This is Colossians three 17 and it says, and whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Speaker 2:

Amen.

Speaker 3:

So it's just like, whatever we do, let's just give all the glory to God because it's nothing that we are doing, it's what he's doing through us , um, to reach his purpose and to bring heaven on earth.

Speaker 2:

Amen. And we're just gonna close out and just pray with you right now, that, that you would just feel the presence of God as you've listened to this podcast today . So , Lord, we just thank you for this testimony. Everything that we say we know we are accountable to and everything will be accounted for us someday . And we pray that we would continue to magnify your name with these testimonies as you work through us every day, that you would bless every person listening today, that you would allow them to operate with your power and also operate with faith, with great measures of faith more than they can imagine, so that they can see your will done here on earth. So we thank you for what you're doing in and through the body of Christ, and we pray that this would encourage someone to, to go out and to have a divine appointment with someone. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

Speaker 1:

Hey guys, thanks so much for listening to the Puzzle is Real podcast. Please subscribe today and share with the friend . See you soon .